15. Chapter 15 #2
“You like it, then.”
“I love it. I nearly said it in front of Father.”
“Shame you didn’t.”
“I’m trying to escape the compound, not get myself buried beneath it.”
“Fair point.”
“I’ve spent years wishing someone would see what she really is,” I said.
“It wasn’t difficult. She’s a cunt.”
This time the laugh escaped before I could stop it.
I clapped one hand over my mouth and listened for movement beyond the dungeon door.
Nothing.
Lachlan looked entirely too pleased with himself.
“Most men stop thinking when she tells them how powerful and desirable they are,” I whispered. “She learns what they want to hear and feeds it to them until they’ll do anything she asks.”
“I’ve never enjoyed being told what to think.”
“I noticed.”
The humor left his face as he watched me fold the bloodied cloth inward.
“You heard what she did.”
It wasn’t really a question.
“Yes.”
“All of it?”
I could’ve lied and spared him the knowledge that I’d listened from beginning to end. But a comforting lie would’ve made me no better than the people who used deception to control others.
He valued the truth, even when it was ugly.
“Yes, every second.”
A hard line formed around his mouth. Not shame. Fury.
“Then you heard her beat the shit out of me, shove my head in a bucket of water, and have Pedro suck my dick.”
The words were blunt enough to steal the air from the room.
“My body reacted,” he continued. “That’s what a body does when someone works it hard enough. Doesn’t mean I wanted it, and it sure as fuck doesn’t mean she owns a goddamn thing.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
“I heard you refuse every demand she made. I heard you bite through her lip rather than give her one look or one word she wanted.” I held his stare. “If she owned you, she wouldn’t have left this room bleeding.”
His eyes locked onto mine as though waiting to see whether disgust or pity would appear.
I felt neither.
I knew his body had reacted to what Isabeast forced on him. I’d also heard him defend every choice that belonged to him. She had hurt and humiliated him, but she’d never received the surrender she claimed.
“What your body did wasn’t submission, and none of it belonged to her.”
His expression remained guarded.
“I don’t pity you, Lachlan. I’m angry for you. There’s nothing I want more than to see her dead.”
“Get in line,” he huffed.
He looked away for a moment.
When his eyes returned to mine, some of the tension around them had eased.
I reached for the water bottle and unscrewed the cap.
“Drink slowly.”
“Bossy little thing, aren’t you?”
“You were nearly drowned today, you haven’t eaten, and you’ve barely had anything to drink except the water I gave you earlier. So I’m allowed to be bossy for at least five minutes.”
“All right, Mouse. Make them count.” A quiet laugh rumbled from his chest.
I held the bottle to his mouth. He took several careful swallows, then pulled away before I needed to stop him.
Even as thirsty as he had to be, he controlled himself.
I waited before offering it again.
“Any nausea?”
“Some.”
“Dizziness?”
“Aye.”
“Can you take a deep breath?”
“I can. Don’t enjoy it.”
“Do you think anything is broken?”
“Ribs may be cracked. Left thigh’s fucked. Shoulders are cramping from the cuffs, and my wrists are torn up.” He flexed his hands behind the chair as far as the restraints allowed. “Everything still moves.”
“Can you walk?”
“I’ll walk.”
“That wasn’t what I asked.”
“I don’t know yet.”
At least he didn’t lie. He didn’t need to pretend he was invincible to remain dangerous.
I tore off a small piece of bread and held it to his mouth.
His lips brushed my fingertips as he took it.
A man chained to a chair had no business making a bite of bread feel indecent. Lachlan managed it anyway.
I pretended not to notice the way my heart rate jumped and fed him another piece.
When his stomach seemed to tolerate them, I followed with a few pieces of banana and more water.
“Why do you call me Mouse?” I asked.
“It suits you.”
“It makes me sound small and weak.”
“Small doesn’t mean weak, Mouse.” His gaze settled on mine. “Predators watch the doors. They never think to watch the walls.”
I didn’t know how to respond. Men had always assumed I was fragile because I was quiet and stayed out of the way.
My fingers tightened around the bread, pressing a deep dent into the soft center.
“You found a way into a room Ciro believes no one can enter without his permission,” he continued. “Then you came back after hearing what happened in here with food and medicine Ciro had ordered everyone to keep from me. I’d say the predators in this place have underestimated you.”
Father and his men had spent my entire life mistaking silence for helplessness.
They never saw how closely I watched them, how carefully I measured every risk, or how well I remembered the lessons my mother taught me.
I hadn’t lacked courage or intelligence.
I’d lacked an opportunity to use either without getting myself killed.
Now I finally had a chance, dangerous as it was, and I was taking it.
And somehow Lachlan understood that. To him, I wasn’t a helpless woman hiding inside secret passages. I was someone clever enough to use them.
“They’ve underestimated me my entire life.”
“Good. Let them keep doing it, and maybe we’ll both have a chance to get the hell out of here.”
The corner of my mouth lifted before I could stop it.
“I suppose Mouse will do for now.”
“For now?” One of his brows lifted. “Now you’ve got me curious. What’s your real name?”
My fingers went still around the bread.
I should’ve expected the question. Giving someone something as basic as a name was what normal people did. But answering frightened me more than opening the hidden door.
My first instinct was to give him Eliana. Or Bella. Something close enough to answer to without handing him the name Marcela had poisoned.
But that would be another half-truth.
Isabeast had used my first name to deceive and betray him before handing him over to my father. She’d demanded that he say it while she tortured him. The sound of Isabella now belonged to restraints and every filthy thing she’d forced on him.
What if my name turned his warm curiosity about me into disgust?
Worse, what if I refused to say it and allowed her to keep what she’d stolen?
The key beneath my bodice pressed against my skin.
Rafael had told me to test Lachlan before trusting him enough to undo his restraints. Telling him who I really was—and seeing whether the truth changed the way he treated me—would be a good place to start.
Before I put freedom within his reach, I needed to know what he would do with mine.
I set the bread in the basket beside his chair, then straightened and met his eyes.
“My name is Isabella Eliana Delgado.”